Looking at the current Oakland Athletics 40 man roster, it's fairly obvious they're starting a youth movement. The A's have just six players over thirty, and fifteen who weren't even born when I graduated from high school in 1983. They've traded away all the older guys (like 27 year old Dan Haren and 26 year old Nick Swisher) to make way for younger and cheaper talent that won't start to bloom until they move to the new stadium in 2011.
For the first time since 1997, most Oakland fans like me are entering this season with fairly low expectations. I didn't follow baseball that closely back then, but remember that the A's weren't very good, but became a lot more exciting when they traded away the old guys like Mark McGwire and Scott Brosius to make way for youngsters like Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada, who both became league MVPs a few years later. I don't know if there's anyone on their current roster with that level of potential, but it should be interesting watching some of their kids develop into bona fide major leaguers.
I still think the A's will be lucky to win 75 games this year, but they might become really good by the time they open the new ballpark in Fremont in the third year of President Obama's first term.I live about equal distance between the old stadium in Oakland and the new one in Fremont (13 miles vs. 17 miles), so I'm like the epicenter of the Athletics fanbase!
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